Spitfire
by Iridescent.Flames
Summary: My brother and I had always been different, even on mutant standards. Freaks among freaks as I always said. But what if a war for our lives and freedom could bring us to a group of people that could care less about our differences? PyroXOC PyroOC
1. Frozen Eyelashes

Spitfire.

Chapter 1

In all my seventeen years, I've never been this cold. My body gave up shaking hours ago, instead it just spasms erratically. I couldn't move, couldn't scream, fight, or even breathe. A long tube was shoved down my windpipe, straight into my lung, supplying me with meager amounts of oxygen. Needles with tubes connected at the end ran into my arms, multiple colored substances running straight into my veins. A heart monitor was also beeping rather slowly in the background.

_Beep, one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, four mississippi, five, beep._

Where am I, you ask? Well, hell if I know! I have yet to see past this stupid, frosted glass of an overgrown, frozen test tube that some humans shoved me in. You know those movies where some superhero gets hurt, so they put them in a tube with some funky, healing liquid? Yeah it was kind of like that, except I was an experiment. No healing juice for me.

Sigh, this all started when my brother and I were being chased, again, by a squad of military humans. We were doing fine, playing with them a little, getting them lost in fourteen miles of forest. But then, the worst noise I had ever heard cracked through my skull. I fell straight from a tree into a circle of them. Writhing on the ground they shackled me up, and gave me enough tranquilizers for a herd of elephants. What that noise was, I don't know. But it felt like my mind was being ripped in two.

It's been a good month or so after that and I'm still stuck in this damn tube. Alright, so it's actually been one month, three weeks, four days, seven hours, thirty-two minutes, and fifty-four seconds, but who's counting? I've done absolutely nothing except float here and daydreaming of getting busted out of here. Let me tell you, I might die of boredom before anything else. I was mostly stuck listening to those idiotic, human scientists talk about how 'extraordinary' or 'magnificent' I am.

You see, I'm a freak among freaks. I was the kind of mutant that would never fit in society. Humans scorned me, and mutants were intimidated by me. My brother and I are the only mutants of our kind. We were part dragon. Yeah, those giant lizards with wings, breathe fire, and eat children. Yup that's basically us in a nutshell, except the whole eating children thing. I was a fire dragon while my lovely brother; who has yet to find me, the lazy ass he is, is an earth dragon. Basically I breathe fire, he controls plants. Scales cover a little over half our bodies, mine in iridescent silver, his are a mix of black and green. We're also equipped with larger incisors, clawed hands, dragonish feet, slightly pointed ears, wings, tails, and a lot more. It's pretty cool, but you'll learn more about us as this whole thing goes on. Well If I ever make it out of here that is!

Speaking of my appearance I know that right now it wasn't very good. My long tail was missing dozens of scales along with two feathers. Yeah I have feathers, shut up. My wings ached horribly from their tight confinement and a slice of membrane was missing.

An average body temperature for me was pretty high, somewhere around 115- 130 degrees F. Currently it couldn't have broken sixty degree, dangerous for anyone, especially myself. My wounds for my capture a month ago were still open, the healing process halted. My body was more concerned with just keeping me alive.

Suddenly I heard a large explosion, the crunching of metal, and a ferocious roar that I immediately recognized.

_Took you long enough._

My only reply was a low growl.

_Jerk._

My comment was ignored, and if I could move my freaking mouth I would have smirked at his protective nature. Someone tapped the glass of my prison, echoing painfully in my ears.

_BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!_

_Oww, watch it!_ _I swear, If I make it out of those alive I'll never tap on a fish tank ever again! _

Having gained a small amount of energy, while I was awake, I cracked open my eyes. My lashes were frozen together and pulled on each other painfully before allowing my vision to adjust.

Fury filled, green eyes connected with my own smoke colored eyes, before a scaly fist connected with the tube, shattering it. The icy liquid spilled to the floor, it's current violently pulling my body with it. Needles ripped away from my body, tubes were yanked out, and I was finally able to breath on my own. Sturdy arms pulled me from the floor rubbing violently on my arms to create heat.

"Hey, you still alive in there?" a deep growl of a voice asked me, poking lightly at my head. My body shook and after a few painful coughs, I nodded my head slowly.

"Pyro, a little help?" I heard my brother ask someone. Who the hell was Pyro? A mutant no doubt. Wait let me guess, his power has to do with fire?

Slow footstep made their way toward my brother and I. He laid me on the ground again, staring at the ceiling, then all I saw was a mix of red, orange, yellow, blue, and white engulf me. My body hungrily sucked the fire into my core, warming my entire body.

About a minutes passed before my temperature was fairly normal and I could move freely. Albeit I was a little weak and had a killer headache, but besides that I felt fine. The flames dissipated, revealing a teenage guy standing over top of me. Before I knew it my fighter senses kicked in. I was lower than he was, he had the advantage! I jumped to my feet, wobbled for a moment, and then growled fiercely in his general direction.

"Calm down girl, we're not here to hurt you," A deep elder voice informed me.

"Like hell you aren't and I don't take orders from you! Who the hell are you anyways?" My response was quiet, I could taste copper in my mouth as my throat stung from exhaustion. Growls and hisses ripped from my hoarse throat as I scanned the three strangers in the room.

I examined the teenage boy first. He didn't look like too much, I could beat him. An elder man stood in the middle of what used to be two giant metal doors, power and authority oozed off of him in waves. Automatically my growls quieted, he was powerful and I knew it. Lastly, was a woman, a covering of blue scales on her entire body. Yellow eyes stared fearlessly into my own. She looked almost like me, but held more of an air of self-assurance and superiority.

"Damien, what's going on?" I asked over my shoulder to my twin. He slowly rose to his feet and came to my side.

"Magneto," he nodded his head to the elder man, "Offered to help me break you outta here, give us a place to stay and everything."

"And in exchange?" Nothing came without a price, we'd learned that quickly enough in life.

"You, my dear, and your brother are to join my Brotherhood. Fight for the mutant's right to live, in this world ruled by the pathetic humans."

I knew what the Brotherhood was, heard a lot about them from my travels. Damien and I were actually seeking them out when I was captured. Humans had killed and tortured too many of my fellow mutants. Mutants were more superior than those damned homo sapiens could ever hope to be. We should be dominant, not them! I wanted revenge for the pain they have always put on my family and friends. I smirked at the prospect of revenge. My brother glanced at my expression smirked as well.

"I figured you'd go for it." Damien told me wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I stared Magneto right in the eye.

"When do we start?" I asked teeth bared in a playful grin of excitement.

"That's a girl." Magneto praised.


	2. Stretched Wings

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 2**

Walking out of that damn lab was pure euphoria, the air was thick with the forest's delicious, earthy scents. Being in that lab I was constantly overwhelmed with obnoxious amounts of bleach, metal, and humans attacking my heightened senses. Humans smelled of a rancid steak that had been left in the back seat of a car, it was absolutely disgusting. Most of the time I'm with at least one other mutant, who have a more pleasant smell that can cover the humans.

When I finally walked into the wildness I took in as much sweet air as I could. I directing half of it to my lungs and the other half to my "Ember Chamber". What's an ember chamber? Well it's just what it sounds like. I guess I have a chamber next to my lungs that holds some long combination of elements and when it is exposed to oxygen it explodes, causing me to breathe fire. My ember chamber can be closed or opened at my own discretion. That stops me from shooting a fire ball every time I breathe. I didn't know that when I first got my powers. I destroyed a good portion of the trees surrounding my home. Let's just say I held my breath for a while until I figured everything out.

Anyway, I made three out of the four mutants surrounding me flinch, as flames suddenly exploded from my mouth toward the sky. My tail swished behind me rapidly and my wings flicked out around me, but I had to pull them back when a few of my cuts stretched and reopened. Even so, it felt good to be free and in the open.

"Mmm, glad to be outta that hell hole. Thought I was gonna die of boredom before you could get to me, Dam. What took you so long anyway?" I enquired to my brother who stood at my right side.

"Yeah, well about that. I couldn't really figure out where the hell you were at first. Then I decided to just go suck it up and ask for Magneto's help. He had a few connections that found you pretty quick," he admitted sheepishly, lightly scratching the back of his neck.

"Whatever," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Do you mind if we go for a quick fly? I need to stretch my wings, been cooped up too long." I asked my new "boss", figuring I'd be polite and ask before I just flew off.

"We will be flying on my jet to our base, can you keep up?" Magneto questioned as he began to walk into the brush. I snorted loudly, crouched low, flicked my wings out, then pushed off with my legs. I flapped my wings once to get my balance and then began to follow Magneto and his two followers. My brother soon joined me at my side, the wind blowing his dirty, blonde hair.

_Hey, I'll race you! _I said excitedly to my brother through our freaky twin telepathy, flying in a tight, playful circle around him. Yeah, we seriously had telepathy with one another, but no one else. Though it would be cool to go around and figure out what people were thinking.

_You're in no shape to race right now. _Damien scolded me.

_Like hell I'm not! Come on, I'll prove it to you! _

My pride was hurt, I was quick in the air and could beat my brother any day of the week, even if I was injured. Where he could make a cheetah look like it was out of shape, I could fly circles around the fastest plane or bird. Often I would take to the sky and fly along the side of an airplane, popping my head in front of a window. Scaring the wits out of the human passengers, and cause the pilots to just about have a heart attack. It's hilarious, really.

I saw a black, jet rise into the air about 100 feet away from us and immediately took off after it, leaving my brother behind.

We flew for about an hour before I noticed the jet begin to slow. I shot ahead of it and made a wide turn around back to where I saw the jet begin to land. The ground of the clearing spiraled open to reveal a large dark hole, so I landed on the branch of a nearby tree. As the jet landed inside the dark opening the metal circle immediately closed. I looked around frantically, wondering how I was supposed to get into the base now. Looking to my right I notice a boulder shake lightly and then more to reveal a metal staircase, leading underground. I shrugged my shoulders, leaped off my branch, and made my way on the ground to the stairs.

Damien landed lightly besides me at the entrance and took the lead down the stairwell. Our clawed toes lightly scraped the metal until we reached a large, doomed room where the jet was obviously kept. Magneto, Pyro, and the blue woman who I had yet to learn her name, waited for us at the other side of the room. They led us down another stairwell, as I took in my surroundings. The place was cool, slightly damp but not in an uncomfortable way. The walls, floors, and ceilings were all made of what appeared to be a thick metal. Lights were imbedded along the tops of the walls to create light, since we were after all, underground. Every room, even the stairways and hallways were open, with high ceilings and widely spaced walls. Maybe this was why my underground, claustrophobia wasn't kicking in.

The next room was odd. It was huge, even larger than the jet hanger, and was completely empty. I looked around in curiosity, noticed a large one way mirror about thirty feet up the wall. What the heck would they use this room for?

"This is a training room," Magneto stated, indicating the space around him with a sweep of his arm. "Here you will perform simulation fights to perfect and harness your abilities."

"Simulation fights? Like in high-tech, video games where you put that weird thing over your head and you're in the game?" I had never done anything like it but it sure sounded fun. Fighting all I want and not worrying about dying, I'm all for it.

"Not exactly, we have an advanced, computer system that can create robots to fight against you. They can harm, but not kill you as long as you have someone on the controls to stop them. We can also create a holographic environment." The mutant woman explained.

"Sounds cool. Am I gonna get to do it anytime soon?" I looked around the room in wonder and appreciation.

"Eager are we?" Magneto chuckled with a excited twinkle in his eye. "You will begin training soon enough, my dear."

I only nodded my head as I continued to take in the empty room, already setting strategies with the space I was given. We continued to the other side of the room where Magneto held out a hand, moving a slate of metal. Luckily I didn't see any more stairs just a short hallway, if we went any farther underground I think we'd hit Russian.

Oddly enough, the next room we walked into looked like the inside of a cottage. Wood panels covered the walls and the tall ceiling came to a high point with beams stretching horizontally across the top of the room. The floor was a thick, beige colored carpet, lamps littered the room, and a large, extravagant chandelier hung from the top of the ceiling. To the right sat a large, mantel fireplace surrounded by cushions and a large screen t.v. was mounted above it. A large black, leather couch in a L shape that looked like it could fit a dozen people easily, sat in front of the fireplace along with a large, matching love seat to the right, and a oddly shaped metal arm chair. To the left of the room sat a giant, dining island that stretched along most of the room, the kitchen with stainless steel appliances sat behind it. What looked like granite covered the counters and there was hardwood flooring in the area.

There looked to be more space than five people could possibly ever need, but who was I to complain? It was nice as hell, a huge jump from the streets. Straight across from the door sat a large staircase that finally went UP. A large balcony looked over the entire area.

"Whoa," was all I could muster out of my mouth. This place was like a dream to me.

"Yeah, I said something like that too," Damien said with a small laugh before pushing my shoulder to get me out of my stupor. The guy named Pyro immediately went and sat down in front of the fireplace, flicked open a lighter, then controlled the flame with a wave of his hand to set the wood on fire. He contently leaned back and began flicking his lighter open and close, ignoring everything except for the flames in the hearth. Anti-social much? He controls fire though, which is awesome. My own just spews out of my mouth in which ever direction I point it. He can stop his, change its direction, confuse an enemy.

Note to self: Make friends.

Actually, that might be a challenge. He doesn't look like he likes many people. Well, I guess I can try, I'm not exactly the best people person either. That's Damien's job.

The blue scaled woman walked to the fridge and pulled out a few water bottles. She threw one across the room to Pyro, his reaction fairly quick, but nothing much to brag about. Next was to Damien who caught his carefully, as to not puncture the thin plastic with his claws. He nodded his head in appreciation then hopped over the side of the couch, to sprawl out and watch the news. He certainly had made himself at home.

I have to say that this woman has a good arm and aim, this was not a small room by any means, it was huge and that Pyro guy was on the other side of it. I was slightly impressed but not much, I mean I could easily do it as well, but never mind that. She walked toward me and handed me a water bottle.

"My name is Mystique and that is Pyro. "She said nodding her head to the teen."What would your name be?"

"Leona Halloway." I replied quickly.

"What is your true name, child?" Magneto piped in from the odd metal chair. He appeared to sit in it perfectly, I'll assume he made it especially for himself.

"My true name? What are you talking about? That _is_ my name." I asked, tilting my head to the side in confusion.

"Sorry, Magneto. She doesn't know what you're talking about. We were never given mutant names." Damien said with ease, as if he's had this conversation before.

"Hmm. Well that is unfortunate," Magneto replied. "We shall have to change that soon. As for now, Mystique? Take her to the medical facilities and make sure she gets cared for, will you? Then you can take her to her room where she can rest and get cleaned up."

I nodded my head appreciably, a boiling shower and a bed sounded like heaven right now. I opened the bottle, sniffed the contents to check for anything harmful, old habit. Nothing seemed out of place, so I took a quick swig and found that I was ravenous.

To Do List:

1. Get patched up.

2. Take a steaming, hot shower.

3. Eat, a lot.

4. Take a long nap.

We'll see where I get after that.


	3. New Feathers

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 3**

When I woke up, I was sure I was still dreaming. This whole place was like a fantasy. My room was simple, yet magnificent. The same wood work that was in the living room covered the walls and it had wood flooring. The room had two levels to it. When you walked in, it was like a small living room, with a large, red armchair sitting in front of a medium sized t.v. A door was off to the left that led to a glorious bathroom. The shower was large enough to accommodate myself, since my wings need a bit of space and had a seat built into the wall. It was surrounded by a dark tinted glass and you could manually change the temperature degrees by a press of a button. A large marble counter spread in an L shape along two walls covered with cabinets and drawers, a sink and a large mirror, and a washer and dryer stacked next to them in the far corner. The porcelain toilet sat next to the door and next to it sat a giant full sized mirror.

If you walked up the two steps further into my bedroom a queen sized bed sat to the left with a small night stand next to it. That bed was like a cloud. When I had went to take a nap it didn't take long at all for my body to recognize the softness and fall straight into a dead-like sleep. A smaller fireplace sat on the wall across from the door, once again filled with cushions and a large walk in closet was on the right wall. Lastly, my favorite part of my room was the large sky light at the very top of my room. It could open manually allowing me access to outside to fly whenever I pleased. It was the only window that I've seen and it comforted me to see the open sky.

Glancing through my room I realized me and my brother had made a huge leap. We had previously slept in trees or in old building to escape the cold. Now, we were in a place like this. This luxury was probably only here to encourage us to stay, and it was working. If I could call this home then who cares what Magneto needs us to do.

I reluctantly climbed out of bed, stretched my limbs, and headed into the bathroom. Looking myself over in the larger mirror, I saw that the majority of my wounds were healed. Small scratched here and there, a few bruises, but nothing life-threatening. The feathers on the end of my tail and my wings were also starting to grow back in. Most of my body was caked in old, dried blood, and I reeked of the laboratory. I defiantly needed a shower.

I peeled off my rags which used to be a pair of shorts and a tank top, stepped into the shower, turned the water scalding hot, and preceded to scrub myself clean. When the water ceased being a dirty brown, red color I turned off the water and dried myself with the red towel hanging from outside of the shower door. I wrapped the towel around my body, took a smaller one from a cabinet and used it to dry my hair as I walked into my room and toward the closet. I threw on a short, black skirt and a red tank top that scooped low in the back for my wings. Now, I never really liked skirts, but when you have a tail coming out of your tailbone you get over that pretty quick. It's kind of annoying to have to rip holes in all of your clothes to accommodate wings and a tail.

A knock sounded at my door, so I threw my towel into a corner and went to answer it. Opening the door I was faced with my brother.

"Hey, wanna come done for some breakfast?" he asked leaning against my door way.

"Yeah, sure. Hold on a second though," I said with a nod as I walked into my bathroom, and Damien plopped down on my armchair with an impatient sigh. I dug around my in the cabinets for a while until I found a wide tooth comb.

"Ah ha!" I muttered with triumph before running it through my damp hair, being careful of the red and amber feather behind my right ear. All of my feathers were a dark red at the center and then expanded to become a light gold at the end, kind of like a flame. I had them on the end of my tail, on the tops of my wings, and a random one behind my ear that was surrounded by my hair.

"Hurry up, would you? I'd like to eat sometime today!" Damien yelled. When it comes to food my brother can be a little testy. He likes to eat, a lot. I've never seen anyone eat more than he does.

"Shut up, I'm coming, I'm coming."

We walked out the door and went down the left of the hallway toward the staircase. My brother looked at me and smirked before taking off toward the kitchen at neck breaking speed. I growled playfully and followed right after him. I knew he would beat me, but me and my brother were competitive, so racing was something we did often.

I reached the kitchen and tackled Damien, who was already sitting on a bar stool, waiting for me. I tackled him to the ground, then sat on his stomach cross legged. I stuck my tongue out at him, childishly.

"Oh yeah, real mature there, Le." Damien mocked. I ignored his comment and sat in his old chair next to Pyro who just looked at us with one eyebrow raised then continued to eat his scrambled eggs and toast. Damien sat to my left and Mystique handed us each a plate of eggs and toast, looking at us oddly, shaking her head, and then turning to get her own breakfast.

I got out of my seat, hopped over the island and made my way to the fridge. I rummaged through for a while until I found what me and Damien needed for breakfast. I threw him ketchup, grape jelly, and a carton of apple juice. I got myself maple syrup, strawberry jelly, milk, and chocolate syrup.

_Um, where are the cups and silverware?_

_I think the silverware is the first drawer on the right and the cups are above your head._

I nodded my head and grabbed two glasses, then walked over and grabbed some silverware. I sat down at the island again. Damien just had already put the jelly on his toast and shoved it into his mouth and was now working on his eggs and ketchup. I mixed myself some chocolate milk, poured some syrup over my eggs, and spread the jelly on my toast.

"Your not really going to eat that, are you?" Pyro asked with a look of disgust on his face looking at my syrup covered eggs.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I?" I asked with a look of confusion on my face.

"Never mind." He said with a shake of his head then he got up to rinse his plate off.

"She puts syrup on basically every breakfast food. You'll get used to her obnoxious sweet tooth eventually." Damien piped in with a shrug of his shoulders and a smirk on his face. I huffed indignantly at his mocking tone about my sweet tooth, shot a small puff of fire out of my mouth, and angrily dug into my breakfast.

"All three of you are going to be training with me today after everyone is finished eating." Mystique said from a stool on my brother's left, as she glanced through a newspaper. " Pyro, go take Magneto his breakfast."

Pyro nodded his head, grabbed a plate from the oven, then walked up the staircase and down the right hallway. I quickly scarf down the rest of my food, excited for training. I then rinsed my dishes and put them in the dishwasher. I bounced anxiously on my feet for my brother to finish eating and Pyro to come back.

"Hurry up, would you?" I asked impatiently. Damien glared at me, and slowly ate his last bit of food, then slowly walked to the sink to wash his dishes.

Pyro came back downstairs and we all made our way to the training room. Mystique walked over to a section of the wall by the one way window, laid her hand on it, and opened a door that led to a staircase.

"Pyro, you come with me. I would like to start with the twins and see how they do."

They both made their way up the staircase and the door closed tightly behind them. Damien and I walked to the center of the room and waited for instruction. I cracked my knuckles and rolled my shoulders to release any tension.

Before I knew what happened, a city sprung up around us and I was being thrown into a flower shop.

"What the hell was that?" I asked as I looked at where I was previously standing. Mechanical red eyes stared back at me then turned to ram my brother into a brick wall.

"Oh, that's it you bastard!" I screamed in fury and shot a huge stream of fire at it.


	4. Ripped Cords

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 4**

My shoulder rammed painfully into the steel chest of a robot. It didn't budge or even leave a dent, instead it just looked at me and threw me through a shop window. Luckily I landed on Damien so it didn't hurt much. Well for me at least.

"Note to self, don't ram the robots. It doesn't work." I whined while rubbing my sore shoulder.

"They have poor protection around their necks, maybe we can disconnect the wires there." Damien said after examining them.

"You mean just rip off their heads and their dead?" I said in excitement.

"Well, if you want to put it like that. Yes, we get to rip off their heads." He said with a small laugh.

I looked at the robot that had been just staring at us all this time, its eyes slowly getting brighter. Before I could figure out why its eyes were brighter, a huge red beam shot out of them. My brother and I dashed out of the way in different directions and I took to the air. I swooped in a small circle around the android, playfully clawing at its armor. Damien went on the ground and circled it in the opposite direction, thoroughly confusing it on who to go after. It arms flailed around unsuccessfully while it tried to knock us away. I quickly flew between the robots legs while it wasn't looking and ripped out its knee joints. Damien took advantage of it being down and violently ripped off its head.

I landed triumphantly on top of its sputtering body while Damien tossed the head in his hand. He then threw the head at me and I ducked to the side. I looked behind me and saw the head smashed into another android's head that was sneaking up on me.

"Um, thanks." I said in surprise.

"You owe me." Damien replied cockily.

I shrugged him off before I noticed a robot coming up behind him. I quickly jumped at him, ripping a few neck cords with my claws and then melting it with a stream of fire. I turned and looked at my twin.

"I think that covers it." I said with an eyebrow raised and a taunting smile on my face.

Fifteen minutes later we had effectively destroyed twenty more androids.

"Alright, you've finished this session. I'm powering down the system." Mystique's voice said over an intercom. Damien ripped his hand out of a robot's head, pulling some essential cords with him.

"Twelve," Damien announced proudly.

"Damn, I only killed eleven." I announced before landing next to him, huffing disappointingly.

"Okay you two, come up here and gets some water. I want Pyro and Leona to do the next run." Mystique's voice said as the door to the stairs opened. We trudged upstairs to the window room, plopped in some chairs and chugged some water down. I grabbed a small towel on a table next to me and soaked up the sweat at the back of my neck.

"Alright. Pyro, Leona get down there." Mystique said adjusting a few buttons and what not on a large console.

Opening the door, we walked into a giant park like area.

"Well, at least she's changing up the scenery." I said while looking around appreciatively.

" Look, just try not to get in my way and we won't have any problems." Pyro spit at me over his shoulder as he walked down a path. I stared at his back for a few seconds, completely offended, growled and then went after him.

When I caught up to him he was flicking his lighter open and closed, then produced a small fireball in his hand. He threw the fire at a robot that was about a hundred feet away, successfully melting its head entirely.

I noticed an android coming at us from my left, I quickly stroked a gland at the roof of my mouth then spit a wad of silver venom at its face. The venom destroyed everything it touched, it was a very potent acid that could melt anything. It could either melt or when put into something's blood stream it could paralyze, like a snake's venom. My brother and I both have the same venom, but his is an acid green color.

Pyro whipped his head in my direction, a look of confusion on his face before he torched a droid behind me.

"Thanks. You can handle yourself right, Sparky?" I asked as I hovered in the air.

"Of course I can. I'd be more worried about yourself if I were you though." He yelled at me while sliding under a robot and surrounding it in a column of flames. I just puffed a small flame in his direction and took off.

_Asshole. _

I flew around the park, shooting jets of flames and spits of venom at random robots. I would change it up every once in a while and swoop over one that was in a dense area and just ripping its head off. I cornered one in a small clearing and shot across it in all directions while quickly slashing through its joints with my claws until it was completely immobile.

I saw a group of about seven robots standing near a large tree. I landed in a branch near that tree and shot some venom at its base. The tree's trunk base was immediately disintegrated and I shoved it on top of the robots, crushing all but one that's leg was caught underneath. I walked over and quickly crushed its head with my foot.

"You know, this is probably more satisfying than it should be." I said to myself as I took into the air again.

I landed in the top branches of the tallest tree in the area and surveyed my surroundings. About two hundred feet from me there was a huge ruckus of about fifteen robots in one area. I shot off in that direction, circling the scene a few times before noticing Pyro in the center of all of them. I swept in closer and noticed his lighter on the outside of the circle and sighed.

_How the hell am I going to destroy all of them without killing him in the process? Ugh, he just has to make this difficult, if only he could protect himself while I just torched them all. Oh, wait. He can. Wow, I'm an idiot sometimes._

I shook my head at my own stupidity then shout down to Pyro.

"Hey, be ready!" I screamed

"For what?" He also screamed with a look of suspicion on his face. The robots looked at me and a few tried to jump in the air to catch me.

"For a lot of fire!" I replied, and then I took a huge gulp of air. One of the largest jets of fire I've ever produced came out of my mouth and in their direction. What I didn't expect though was for it to create a circle around Pyro and begin to melt all the android that were surrounding him.

I looked at him as his hands circled around his head, willing the fire in its ringed course. I stared in amazement, watching the dance of the flames and his hands. They followed his every command, if his hand twitched to the right the flames leaped in unison. He controlled every lick of fire, directing each to a weak point in the robots armor.

By the time everything had been destroyed I had landed on the outside of the ring of fire, the flame playfully caressing my face and arms. I reached out my scaled hand to them and they spiraled around it. My hand was encased in warmth, nothing like a burning sensation almost like a heated glove. I looked up at Pyro his fingers making the spiral path the flames took around my hand. He smirked and then flicked the flames away into the wind. My hand felt like ice afterward.

"I thought you said you could handle yourself?" I smirked at him as the park scenery blink away.


	5. Melted Carpet

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 5**

Days went by with approximately the same routine. Wake up, race Damien, lose, eat breakfast, train for hours, eat lunch, train outside in the woods with Damien, race Damien in the air, win, eat dinner, and then relax. We didn't see much of Magneto and our time was always spent near the underground base. The busy city outside of the woods had yet to be explored. And although most of the day was spent training, it was not a boring life. I could feel my control of my powers become stronger and Damien and myself made the oddest bond with Mystic and Pyro.

"Come on Mystic, please!" I whined pathetically, my wings drooped down and my eyes the utter look of a sad puppy. Only my obnoxious, flicking tail gave away my excitement.

"Maybe," Was her simple response.

"What if I take Sparky with me?" I bargained.

"Wait, wait, wait. Don't you dare get me dragged into this," Pyro growled out in my direction.

"Too late, dude," Damien said from his channel surfing.

"I'll think about it," Mystic said as she walked up the wooden staircase to converse with Magneto.

"You are such a flame in the ass," Pyro said dejectedly, much too used to me getting my way.

"Yeah, love you too Sparks," I said with a ridiculous smile plastered on my face. "Come on you know you're bored too. I need something fun to do!"

"Dragon Breath, I just walked in the door fifteen minutes ago from a mission. What makes you think I wanna go on another one right now?" Pyro said as he flopped down on the fireplace's cushions.

"All three of you meet me outside in twenty minutes. I'll explain your mission then." Mystic said while walking down the staircase.

"But, I," Pyro sputtered.

"You'll get over it, Kid." Mystic smirked playfully. Pyro sighed loudly and stomped his way up to his room, muttering curses.

"Thanks, I owe you one," I laughed to Mystic, and then smirked in Pyro's direction.

"How about you do dinner for the next week," Mystic chuckled while she sat on the couch next to Damien.

"Deal," I said as I took the other half of the fireplace that Pyro doesn't usual occupy. "Damien does dishes!"

"Fine," Damien puffed out sadly.

"Alright, go get ready you two." Mystic shooed us away with a gesture of her head, snagging the remote.

About twenty-five minutes later we had been briefed to have a "discussion" with a government official. Pyro followed a small dirt trail to the city on a motorcycle that was lifted from the hanger. Damien followed next to him on the ground and I flew above them. Half an hour later we arrive at the outskirts of the town and our plan was set into motion. Pyro continued to ride on the streets, while Damien and I took to the shadows of the rooftops.

"Let's go," I urged to my brother when I saw Pyro pull up in front of a glass, official looking building.

We leaped from our twelve story perch, wing spread out around us to slow our landing on either side of Pyro. Pedestrians screamed in terror at my brother and I. This is why I hated humans. One glance at me and they label me as an abomination, an automatic danger to their lives. I will never be able to just walk the streets without parents screaming and clutching their children, or having armed humans attacking me. And they wonder why I hate them.

Fury clouded my vision as my irises melted into quicksilver, smoke curling dangerously from my mouth and nostrils. The small decorative trees place around the building curled toward the horrified people and dagger sharp blades of grass circled around Damien's ankles. Finally, Pyro's arms bursting into flames sending the people scurrying into shops and homes for protection, urging the awed children inside.

"Oh, Governor Brickman! How about you join the party? We'd like to have a discussion about a few of our friends," Pyro mocked the official who was tucked inside of his building, nonchalantly flicking his lighter as per usual.

"IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU LEAVE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO CALL UPON ARMED FORCES!" A voice boomed from a third story window.

"He thinks he's funny," I snorted indignantly as four police cars tore down the street. Pyro shot a strip of flame so hot onto the tar that it melted momentarily, effectively stopping the cars progression. The police cars screeched to a halt and eight officers bolted out hiding behind their car doors, pistols drawn and pointed in our direction.

"You're serious?" Damien barked with a laugh, scrutinizing the pathetic band of shaking police officers.

"Leave now or we will be forced to fire," Spoke an officer in a bold, confident voice, his wavering pistol displaying his fear.

"I'm sorry, did you say fire? There's no need for that," I crooned and then I released a jet of fire at a single cop car. They scattered for protection while the two officers at that car were thrown about thirty yards away, scorch marks on their bodies and unconscious.

"We are extremely capable of that on our own, your assistance is not need. Thank you," I smirked as the bold cop screamed for the officers to fire at will.

I pushed Pyro to one knee and created a shield around us with my wings, most of the bullets bouncing off the hard, scaly exterior. Damien did the same on Pyro's other side, creating a bubble of protection.

A pause in the bullet barrage, I assumed to reload, gave us just enough time to counteract. I began by shooting a giant wave of fire into the air. Pyro immediately raised his hands towards it and began directing it to the police on one side of us. Ever since our first training session together, we began perfecting him directing my flames. Lighters aren't exactly the most reliable source of fire. He learned that the hard way as his lighter continued to get out of his grasp or run out of fluid at the most incontinent times.

On the opposite side of our inferno, roots and vines burst from the earth underneath the police's feet. They wrapped completely around their bodies, stopping any movement. Damien's wrists flicked in rhythm with the plant life.

Looking around, we check that all our opponents were either unconscious or immobilized and then continued into the building. Doors and locks were melted down with acid, potted plants suddenly came to life and began attacking secretaries, and desk and documents combusted. It was a beautiful mayhem. We forcefully made our way into the governor's office, the sounds of screams and pandemonium following our path.

An older looking man, in his later fifties I would guess, crouched behind an upturned desk with an absolutely pathetic looking pistol in his shaking hands. After a slight, awe filled pause he fired. I shot my arm in front of Pyro, blocking two bullets meant for his flesh. Damien roughly pushed him to the floor and controlled a branch directly outside of the window to wrap around the governors pistol. He closed his hand into a tight fist, directing the branch to crush the gun.

I glanced to my forearm which had three small scratches that were slowly oozing small amounts of blood. My tail flicked angrily behind me and my clawed toes kneaded crevasses into the expensive looking carpet.

"That, you disgusting, good for nothing human was probably the worst and last mistake of your life." I stated in a calm voice that did not match my dangerous exterior, nor did they match the flames spontaneously bursting from my lips as I spoke.

Damien had a vine wrap around the vermin's neck and had him hang a foot off the wall, before I could move. Pyro pushed himself off the floor and stood in front of the governor, casually flicking his lighter. His body language screamed of boredom but a gleam of menace in his eyes made the governor attempt to shrink into the wall.

"Where are they?" Pyro asked quietly.

The man just squeaked like the pathetic rat that he was. A growl ripped from my throat at this man's audacity to lie to us. I spit a wad of acid underneath his suspended feet that hisses as it ate through the flooring.

"Where they hell did you put them you pathetic, piece of-," I hissed in rage before being interrupted by a squealing, stuttering voice.

"The, the, the…police station. Bas…basement."

Pyro ripped him off the wall and created a vice around his neck with his arm. I angrily shot a stream of fire at the governor, which Pyro simply just redirected into a sphere in his hand. A trickle of liquid created a trail down the governor's suit pant leg.

"Stop being hasty and spitting fire everywhere. We need him as a hostage," Pyro berated.

I crossed my arms and stomped from the room, eager to get to the police station's basement.


	6. Stuttered Directions

Spitfire.

Chapter 6

We walked out of the chaotic office building into the city street. Everything was silent, the new police that surrounded the building in a semi circle with their guns aimed at us; the civilians who starred in awe; even the paramedics who were frantically trying to save the lives of the first round of policemen. Damien tightened his grip on the governor's throat and pressed his claws a bit closer to his jugular.

Damien and I unfurled our wings, startling the crowd and Pyro mounted his motorcycle.

"If we are followed, or shot at we will fight back." Damien said with a snarl, accompanied by a pathetic whimper from his hostage.

"You are to release Governor Brickman immediately!" A police official demanded.

I couldn't help but let out a small maniacal giggle.

"You can have him when I'm done with him!" I said as I took the Governor's arm and took to the air. He hung precariously from my grasp and squealed when I jokingly let him slip.

"Ugh, he's heavy as all hell. You can have him back, Damien!" I grunted as I tossed him back to my brother. The crowd gasped in horror as their governor soared through the air and then sighed in relief when Damien caught him. Damien swung the man's arm around his neck and took off into the sky with me.

"Stop screwing around. Let's go." Pyro said while revving his engine impatiently. He ignited a flame in his lighter and sent it to the feet of a group of police. They scurried away from the inferno and Pyro sped through the opening on his motorcycle. We followed closely at his sides in the air.

Screams, sirens, and chaos were left behind us. Vehicles swerved out of our way, pedestrians hid in street shops, and soon we were followed by a flood of police cars.

"Where are we going?" Damien demanded of the governor.

"Two…two blocks…down, on the le…left." the governor stuttered. The police station was easy to find, and just as easy to get into. Most of the on duty officers had been left in front of the governor's office building, so only a few secretaries and miscellaneous people we're still at the station. Our plan went quick. We burst into the building and calmly escorted ourselves downstairs as people either stared or ran in fear.

I briskly walked around the three hallways. The first and second were filled with about a dozen regular cells, a few human occupying them. But they weren't my purpose for being here. I stared at the door that blocked the first hallway. A metallic, silver door that looked rather thick. I scoffed and shot two wads of acid at the hinges. Then, I watched it fall with an ear shattering, bang!

"Seriously?" Damien asked with an irritated look on his face, rubbing his ear. I just shrugged and continued on my search.

This hall was lined with twenty cells that each looked like they could survive ten nuclear wars and still be standing strong. There we're no windows, or slots, or even handles on the cell doors. They reminded me of slabs of black granite. I stood in front of the first door to my immediate right and tried to think of a way to get through it. I tried my acid, fire, and even tried throwing my weight against it. Nothing worked. Then I heard the giggling.

"Have you lost your mind, old man?" I glared at the now chuckling governor. He simply gazed at the cell door with a blank look in his eyes, giggling away.

I yanked him from Damien's hold and slammed him against one of the doors. He grunted in pain then burst into full blown laughter. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Why wont they break?" I whispered dangerously. Eventually my patience for his laughing grew thin and I began to crush his windpipe. His chuckling cut off immediately and he stared wide eyed at me.

"They're mutant proof!" He wheezed. I looked behind me at Pyro and Damien, each of them looking just as confused as I was.

"What the hell do you mean mutant PROOF? Open them, now. And explain," I spat while dropping him on the floor.

He scurried to his knees and pulled a set of keys from his pocket. He clawed his way up the way until he was eye level with a pencil sized hole. Hands shaking, he fumbled with his keys until he found a long, silver tube shaped key with a bright, green end.

"I don't know how, but they found a way to block the mutant genes in objects. It's extremely advanced science that they've only started using in holding cells like these," The mayor said timidly as he fidgeted and fit the key in the small hole.

"How?" I asked forcefully, pick him up by the back of his shirt and lifting him to his feet. His fear automatically increased again.

"I…I'm not sure! It's just, uh…rumors that I've heard!" The mayor said anxiously. Pyro gave me an annoyed look and indicated me to drop him with a nod towards the floor.

"Alright, let's wrap this job up." Pyro huffed impatiently.

Damien strode over to the door and inserted the dangling key fully into the hole. The door quickly opened inward to reveal five figures of various sizes standing anxiously at the back of the small, dim room. The smallest of the group took a hesitant first step and then flung itself around Damien's knees.

"Damien, you came! I told them you would but no one believed me!" The small girl said with a small hiccup. She looked up at him with her watery, chocolate colored eyes. Damien smiled down at her and affectionately rubbed at her matching chocolate, brown hair.

"Of course we came to get you, kiddo." Damien cooed.

"We?" chimed in a voice from the group still huddled timidly at the back of the room. I strode forward from behind Damien with a cocky smile stretched across my lips.

"You didn't think I would stay behind did you? Like Damien can handle anything on his own!" I said with a small laugh. Before Damien could make a defense a loud voice whooped and barreled forward around my abdomen.

"Lee-Lee!" the young tween boy with bright ginger hair yelled as he bounced excitedly at my waist. I glanced down at him and let out a short laugh. I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and shifted him to my side.

"Okay, enough with the hugs. Let's get you guys out of here," I said look at the remaining three figures in the room. Two dark haired young boys slapped hands before running forward to leave the room. The last figure was considerably taller and older. He was at least 18 years old in looks, but even he didn't know his actual age. His skin and hair were a wonderful golden color and his eyes we're a such a dark green it was difficult to see the color. He strode forward and grasped forearms with Damien then squeezed me around the shoulders.

"Good to see you guys. We were all getting restless. Especially this one here," He said flicking the boy around my waist in the forehead. The boy yelped indignantly and unwrapped his arms to rub dramatically at his forehead.

"You alright? Your wings look like shit," He inquired as he placed his hand on my shoulder and examined the ruffled appearance of my wings. The feathers were slightly displaced and rumpled as opposed to laying perfectly straight and flat. In a few places there were downy grey feathers poking out from where new feathers were growing. They didn't look horrible, but they were healing from my time at the research facility. I shuffled them anxiously, feeling slightly self-conscious.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," I said shrugging his hand off my shoulder. Pyro coughed impatiently behind me and we made our way to the rag tag group.


	7. Idle Threats

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 7**

Leaving the building and city was simple. None of the humans wanted to come near us after we left their terrified mayor in the middle of the main road. Getting back to the base was a bit tricky though, Pyro was being surprisingly obnoxious.

"Alright, what the hell? Who are these guys and how do you two know them?" Pyro asked from his perch on his motorbike.

"We've got at least a two hour trip back, we'll explain on the way," I said as I pushed into the air, one of the dark haired boys in my arms. Pyro irritably shoved his helmet on his head and revved his engine. The eldest boy climbed awkwardly on the back of the motorcycle, his hands clutching the back of his seat and sitting as far away from the other male as possible.

"Explain," Pyro growled irritably into the communicator in his helmet.

"Okay, introductions and mutant stuff first. The dude behind you is Marcus, he has the ability to mess with people's sense, mainly their vision. So pretty much he can make you think that you're relaxing on a beach right now instead of driving," I tried to explain.

"Which I wont, seeing as I don't want to crash and die," Marcus commented lightly.

"This little brat clinging to my neck is Caleb, his blood can heal. He can't raise the dead or anything but he can heal almost any wound with just a drop of blood," Caleb smiled in pride at his abilities, his ocean blue eyes glittering. He was a small boy, about ten years old and had a mane of dark, curly black hair.

"And that cheetah down there is his partner in crime, Nikolai; or Nick. He's an animal shifter if you couldn't tell," I joked as Nick morphed into a quick-footed horse to show off. Where as Caleb was small, Nick was more tall and lanky. Both boys were the same age and though they were not related, they looked and acted like twins. Nick had thick straight hair which fell into his gold and green, hazel eyes that shinned with boyish charm. Nick's skin was a bit dark than Caleb's olive color.

"The ginger kid that you probably can't see is Jackson. Jackson! Get over here and stop running ahead, you don't even know where we're going! I think you can figure out his ability on your own," I said with a sigh as Jackson finally came into sight next to Nick. He sprinted in between his hooves and ran in circles around Nick. Nick snorted loudly and chomped loudly at Jackson's bright hair. Jackson laughed loudly and appeared next to Pyro's motorcycle, matching strides with it.

"Hey! I'll race ya!" Jackson inquired of Pyro.

"No, you wont. You'd beat him in a landslide and Nick wont be able to keep up with everyone," Damien scolded. Jackson pouted visibly for a moment and then plastered a smile on his face and started running circles around the group.

Jackson was a wonderful sort of boy, he was full of energy and almost always had a happy expression on his lightly freckled face. His hair was a blinding color of orange, his skin pale and dusted in freckles, and his eyes were a vibrant green. His smile could cheer even the most depressed person.

"And lastly, the little angel sleeping in Damien's arms is Lacie. She can cover her entire body in tree bark and can also spread it to things she touches. Sweetest kid you'll ever meet," I said looking at the small, adorable bundle in my brother's grip. Her hair was thick and waved perfectly down her back like melted chocolate, and her big, chestnut eyes could make you do anything for her. She had perfect, deep brown skin and was definitely going to break hearts when she was older. She was about eight now.

"So, yeah. That's the whole gang," I said checking to make sure I didn't miss anyone.

"You never said how you know them," Pyro asked while swerving around a branch in the path.

"Oh, ya know. We just sorta pick them up over the years," I laughed.

"Stop joking around," Pyro spat irritably.

"I'm not really joking. We all used to live together before you found me and Damien. We were all orphans or kicked out by the mutant-haters. So, we all stuck together and stayed on the move to different cities every week. We picked up Lacie first about five years ago, then Jackson about a year later, Marcus next about a year ago, and then finally the two troublemakers just a couple of months ago. Just your normal group of misfits who tried to keep each other feed and out of trouble," I explained lightly. That's how Damien and I have lived for almost all of our lives. We couldn't really remember why we lived on the streets, or what happened to our parents but as far back as we could remember that how it had been. I could remember flashes of my infancy and two people that I assumed were our parents, but that's all I knew. Our memories basically started on the streets. So either our parents were dead, or didn't want us when they found out we were slowly turning into snake people with wings and tails. And just for the record, we hadn't always looked like this. When we were kids, it was just a few scales here and there, tiny wings, and nubs for tails. But as we got older, our feet morphed, our wings and tails grew and more scales freckled our skin. It's mostly stopped now, but we still find a few new scales everyone once in a while.

So that was our life, traveling the country, moving to different cities and trying to stay out of the public eye. We stole food during the night, and slept in the woods with only our wings wrapped around each other to protect ourselves from the weather. Damien found Lacie, barely an infant rummaging through a dumpster in San Diego. It was fall and although it was warmer on the west coast, she wouldn't have made it through winter. Jackson grew up with his aunt and she died in a car accident, he ran away all the way across the country and found us in New Mexico City. Marcus's powers didn't show up until he was a teen and then his parent's found out and kicked him out, we met him outside of Chicago. The twin had a similar situation to us, they grew up on the streets and had been together for most of their lives. Caleb can't remember anything, but Nick was thrown out of an orphanage when he was five. We met them both in Boston.

"Does Magneto know about all this?" Pyro inquired.

"Yup, that's mostly why he had us come. And because you wouldn't be able to get everyone back without us," I said hoisting Caleb more comfortably on my hip.

"Are we there YET?" Jackson whined loudly. Nick whinnied and snorted pathetically and morphed into a falcon. Nick was slowly tiring and was resorting to morphing into different animals to use different muscles.

"How much longer, Pyro?" Damien asked.

"About an hour, maybe a little less," Pyro answered. Jackson gave a loud groan of impatience. We continued on for another half an hour and then stopped for a short ten minute break so Nick could stretch his sore muscles.

"So what happened? You both went to get food that night and you never came back," Marcus questioned. All the children whipped there heads towards us, waiting for an answer.

"The military caught up with us again. We were doing fine, running them around the woods and everything, then, well I don't really know what happened actually," I said quizzically and looked at Damien for answers.

"We separated and I had a group of about five of them, I was hiding in a tree hoping to surprise them and then my head felt like it was gonna explode. It freaking hurt too, I had to dig my claws into the trunk of the tree and bite down on a branch so that they didn't find me. I passed out eventually and when I woke up I was still in that tree and I couldn't find you anywhere. I knew that Marcus would take care of everything so I went looking for Leona. Couldn't find anything after a while and ran into Pyro who took me to Magneto," Damien explained as well as he could.

"It was a machine called Cerebro that caused the pain. It was this whole thing that happened a few months ago. It happened to all the mutants first and then the humans. It'll take forever to explain so don't worry about it." Pyro said nonchalantly, reclining on his handlebars.

"Alright, whatever. Anyways, so I was taken to the labs again and what not. Damien and Magneto busted me out and so now we work for him. Wait till you guys see base, my room is huge!" I said excitedly, thinking of the large layout and the amazing bed.

"Woah, do we get rooms too?" Jackson questioned while bouncing excitedly on his toes.

"Maybe, guess we'll just have to get there super fast to find out! You ready to go Nickie?" I laughed as Nick jumped to his feet and morphed into a thoroughbred horse again.

"Ya know, you make a very handsome horse. Maybe you should make the change permanent? What do you think, Mark?" I teased, laughing with Mark and Caleb while rubbing Nick's velvety nose. Nick snorted indignantly and nudged me roughly in the shoulder.

"Nah, I don't want to clean up his manure," Mark joked. Nick pawed the ground twice and lifted his head high, annoyed.

"If it makes you feel better, dude. I like you more as a person, it hurts less when you step on my feet!" Caleb said patting Nick's large shoulder. Nick placed a hoof sharply into the ground next to Caleb's foot, causing Caleb to jump away quickly and hide behind Damien who was always the safe zone. Damien chuckled lightly, patting Caleb on his head and holding Lacie's hand in his other. She was now awake and smile at our amusing antics.

"Alright, let's go already. I'm starving," Pyro ordered, shoving his helmet back on. About 40 minutes later, and much jesting and idle chat we made it back and inside base. Walking through the hanger, training room, and into the living room all you could hear was gasp and woahs from the children. When we made it into the living area we met Mystique.

"She looks like you, Damiey. She's pretty," Lacie whispered into Damien's ear. He laughed and ruffled her hair giving her an 'Mhm' of agreement.

"Pyro, you're done for the night," She informed him.

"Finally," Pyro grunted, heading for the kitchen to scrap up food.

"Leona, Damien you two can take the younger ones up to the rooms further down from yours," Mystique ordered.

"But there is only one room after mine isn't there?" I inquired.

"Magneto expanded," She answered simply.

"Oh alright, let's go munchkins," I said grabbing Jackson and lugging him under my arm so he wouldn't run ahead. Mystique stopped Marcus as he started heading in our direction.

"Magneto would like to talk to you. I will take you to him," She said leading him to his "office", which was just a huge, rock-walled room with a desk and a door that I think led to his bedroom and everything.

"Good luck, Mark! We'll save you a room," I said running up the stairs and pretending to almost ram Jackson's head into walls. Mark just gave me a nonchalant wave over his shoulder as they entered the door in the opposite corridor of our rooms. Each of the kids got their own rooms which was similar to Damien's and mine but they were considerably smaller. And the first thing they each did was sprint right to their beds and flop down on them. Caleb actually pushed his bed into Nick's room and they decided to stay together by sharing a room. The room left for Mark was next to Damien's and the exact same as our's. The rooms were all neutral colors but the children didn't mind, they all had never had bedrooms before, at least not for long periods of time. They also had rarely watched tvs before or take regular baths so that was probably going to fill up the rest of their nights after they had some food.

Speaking of food, crap I had to do dinner this week.

_Haha, you have to do SO many dishes now! _I taunted Damien.

_Shut up and go make food before we all starve to death! _He ordered, walking into his room.

"Do I look like a house wife to you?" I yelled at his door.

"Only if this was a horror movie!" Pyro screamed from downstairs. I spit a large, annoyed puff of fire from my mouth and stomped my way downstairs to the kitchen. Pyro saw my aggravated state and just laughed while flicking through channels.

"Do you want me to poison your food?" I threatened idly while rummaging through the cabinets getting out things to make a simple spaghetti dinner.


	8. Rabbit Foot

**Sptifire.**

**Chapter 8**

"Put this on," Mystique commanded as she threw a bundle of cloth at me. It unraveled awkwardly, revealing itself to be a long, grey cloak.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, as I examined the clothing and then looked at Mystique in wonder.

"No. Why?" Mystique questioned as she reclined back on the couch, looking way more graceful then anyone should while they're lounging on a love seat.

"Because this has to be punishment for something! Is it because what happened with Pyro the other day? It's not my fault he's clumsy and tripped over my tail! Besides, it was just a sprain and-" I began pacing the living room, thinking of all the things I could have done to have deserved the torture of wearing a garment so horrible.

"Leona, you're going on a mission that requires you to be discreet. You're not being punished," Mystique said, a bit of amusement flashing across her face.

"Oh. But why this? It looks like something out of Dracula's closet," I said as I fiddled with the cloth, trying figure out how to put it on.

"I don't understand how a girl who wears shorts and a tank top everyday can be so picky," Pyro joked as he came down the stairs with Damien and Lacey in tow.

"Don't be deceived, underneath those scales and claws is still a teenage girl," Damien commented with a laugh, grabbing Lacey underneath her arms and hoisting her onto his shoulders.

"Shut up before I roast you, plant boy," I growled irritably as I tangled my arm in the cloak. Mystique sighed, rose from the couch and tossed the cloak around my shoulders and wings, clasped it around my neck, and then pulled the hood over my head. My wings created an awkward bump in the back, but the cloak reached down to the floor and covered my scaly skin from head to toe. I sighed uncomfortably at the weight around my wings.

"Promise me you'll never be a teenager, Lace," Damien pleaded with the little girl.

"I promise," Lacey replied, giggling into his hair.

"How come Damien doesn't have to come with us?" I complained as he and Lacey moved to the couch to watch cartoons.

"Because he's going on a mission with me. Marcus will stay with the children," Mystique explained. She uncrossed her legs and lifted herself from the couch. She walked behind me, tapping her foot against the tip of my tail that was poking from underneath the cloak. I scratched my neck in embarrassment and wrapped my tail around my thigh to better hide it.

"Ugh, but why do I have to be with Sparky? Can we switch?" I begged, sitting on the back of the couch and pouting. My hood fell farther down my nose and I resisted the urge to set it on fire as I blew it away.

"Oh yeah, because you're a real joy to be around Dragon-breath. Maybe you should just stay behind and paint your claws or something," Pyro taunted, leaning against the kitchen counter. I prepared a counter attack but Mystique cut in.

"Enough. Pyro, Leona you both need to go meet Magneto in the hanger. Marcus is in the training room, so be cautious of flying objects," Mystique informed, then made her way upstairs to do whatever it was she did in her room; probably something ironic like, watching soap operas. That'd be hilarious to see.

_Go paint your claws, he says. Oh, I'll paint them alright. Bright RED_- I sat in the jet, my arms crossed over my chest. I glared at the back of Pyro's head, wishing I could shoot fire out of my eyes instead and thinking of all the way I could kill him slowly.

"Stop sulking, it's annoying," Pyro commanded as he fidgeted with his old lighter. I didn't understand why he always had it. Magneto had specifically made him a gadget that went on his arm that produced way more flames than a tiny, useless zippo. But whatever, to each his own.

"Do you have to wear the ugly, uncomfortable cloak? No. So, shut up," I demanded, giving him an annoyed glare.

"Patience, girl. Soon we will have a better way to disguise you and your brother," Magneto said as he leaned casually in his chair, his helmet securely on his head and a calm look on his face as if he wasn't controlling a plane with his mind.

"Yeah, Hot-head. Patience," Pyro taunted. I growled quietly and spat a fireball at his hair, hoping to singe the perfectly, disheveled strands. I swear, I blinked and the flame was gone from midair. Yet there Pyro sat, in exactly the same position and his hair was as immaculate as ever. I loathed that guy.

"Remind me to use acid next time," I said, crossing my arms and sinking into my chair. Magneto shot us both a 'look' and we looked away from each other, huffing and muttering profanities under our breaths.

"I'm dropping you off at the edge of the warehouse district. From there you will walk six blocks north to building 18. Go to the east facing door and give the doorman the password: Rabbit foot," Magneto directed as he hovered the plane over an abandoned warehouse rooftop.

_Okay. Go north to Building 18. East door. Password: Rabbit foot. North. 18. East. Rabbit foot. North. 18. East. Rabbit-, _I started a mantra in my head but was interrupted by Magneto continuing his speech.

"You are to observe the cage-fights. Everyone in attendance is a mutant. Look for anyone who may be of interest to our cause; I want only the best. Tell any who wish to join that I will meet them here tomorrow at 10pm,"

"Wait-if this is an all mutant thing, then why are we hiding?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck uncomfortably.

"We cannot risk exposure to those who are not on our side. You're both too recognizable. So be cautious in your selections. Now go." He opened the hatch and I resisted the urge to open my wings to slow my landing onto the rooftop.

"Hurry up," Pyro whispered, already climbing onto the fire escape.

"Can't we just fly down?" I asked. I shuffled my wings awkwardly underneath the coat, making the cloth rustle; Pyro shot me a look as if to shush me.

"No. Now come on," He whispered again, starting his trek down the metal rigging. My shoulders sagged and I followed dejectedly.

"So I don't get it. Mags said we were too recognizable and that make sense for me. I know like, 90% of the underground mutant population and it's not always under good terms. Especially the cage-fighters. But what's you're deal?"

"None of your business. Keep up," Pyro spat back skirting around a dim, street-lamp circle of light.

"Well it's not like the government hunters or the X-men are going to be there. So what's your big secret?" I was talking out loud, prying very carefully to discover the truth. I knew it would piss him off, but I was too curious to be cautious of his temper. I watched his body language very carefully and saw a muscle in his jaw twitch at the mention of the X-men, or maybe it was because of the hunters. I had to dig deeper.

"I mean, aren't you Magneto's Golden-Boy or something? Shouldn't we flaunt that to convince people?" The questions kept flowing and I watched as his fist clenched tighter, the veins in his hands were pulsing.

"No," Pyro finally answered after a prolonged pause. He shoved his slowly unclenching hands into his hoodie pockets and accelerated his pace. My clawed toes clicked and scrapped against the concrete as I caught up with him, follow behind his shoulder.

"So, then who'd you sell out?" I asked simply.

"What? No one!" Pyro said, his voice slightly raised.

"Well the underground obviously doesn't like you for some reason. So what did you do? Did you date an X-men? That's it isn't it,"

"No. They just don't trust me, okay? They think I'm a spy. Now will you shut up?" Pyro demanded, pulling his hood further down his face. A paused for a second, then continued my barrage.

"A spy for who?" I asked innocently.

"None of your business," he said, glancing around to see if anyone was around to hear their dangerous conversation.

"Hunters or X-men, which one is it?" I watched as he twitched again and cracked a smirk.

"Neither, leave me alone," he commanded, almost jogging now to get further away.

"Why would they think you were a spy for the X-men? Your Magneto's #2 lackey after Mystique," I pointed out.

"We're almost there, be quiet," Pyro said, adjusting his hood again.

"Are you sure you didn't date one of them?" I asked again. His jaw muscle jumped and suddenly I was moving.

"No! I used to be a part of them, now shut up before I char you and leave you for the rats," he hissed in my ear as he pinned me against a wall, a fireball aimed at my face. I couldn't help but smile, I had won.

I shut my mouth and mined zipping it shut. Pyro glared at my antics, but dissipated the fire and let me go.

"Let's go," he said walking further down the alleyway. He always seemed to know where he was going, or at least he put on a good front when he was lost so no one ever noticed. Hm…so an ex X-man, huh. I wouldn't have guessed that looking at him, but I guess that just proves that I'm not the only one with secrets. I should have realized that a lot sooner, but I guess I just never really thought about it.

_What else is he hiding? _I wondered as we came up to a door with a man seated outside of it.

"Rabbit foot."

The name simply nodded his head, and then continued to stare into the darkness with his clouded eyes.


	9. Shining Jewels

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 9**

Pyro and I walked past the guard, but stopped a few steps from the door frame when we noticed a shimmering purple force-field going across the open doorway. There were no sounds or lights coming from the decrepit warehouse. The cracked windows were covered in thick layers of dust and the metal roof was rusting away. The place looked completely abandoned. Pyro was staring at the force field skeptically.

"Hey, Pyro! You going to walk in or just stand there all night?" I asked, glancing back at the doorman who hadn't budged.

"Yeah, let's go. And don't call me that," He commanded, he said slipping a hand through the purple layer.

"Well then, what am I supposed to call you?" I inquired, as I saw him quickly yank his hand from the field.

"Don't call me anything. If we pretend we don't know each other, we'll be less noticeable. We'll meet back here in two hours. Be discreet and don't mention names," Pyro commanded, giving directions like a military sergeant.

"What if I know someone? They'll recognize my voice, ya know," I commented.

"Convince them to join and tell them to keep quiet about it. If we draw the wrong attention, we're screwed,"

"Yeah, I got it. Can we go now?" I asked, and then shoved him through the doorway when he hesitated too long.

I quickly followed, but recoiled away. It felt like the static, tickling feeling you get when your foot is asleep and you move it around. I couldn't see or hear Pyro on the other side, but he was probably pissed I was lagging. I sucked in my breath and jumped through the purple mass. The cheering and music assaulted my hearing and the vibrations of a hundred feet shook the foundations of the building. A staircase leading to the arena basement stood near the entrance and a few mutants stood in hushed clumps in the emptied warehouse first floor.

Pyro shoved his hands in his pocket and proceeded to huff like an insolent child under his breath. A few mutants glanced in our direction warily.

"Watch where you're going, punk," Pyro spat in my direction, putting on an act for the spectators.

"Watch _yourself_," I retorted, bumping shoulders with him as I walked to the staircase. My tail flicked at his ankle in a teasing manner as I passed.

As I made my way downstairs, Pyro somewhere behind me, the sounds amplified. The sounds of skin hitting concrete, the breaking of bones (just a nose as far as I could see), and the sloshing of alcohol echoed in my sensitive ears. The electronic-rock music pulsed through me, making my toes and fingertips itch. Plastic cups and bottles of cheap booze were passed around the crowd, like at a college fraternity party. Slow flashing colored lights illuminated the open space; cigarette smoke drifted in the air to collect at the ceiling; couples groped each other against the cold, concrete walls; and in the center of it all was a blocked off circle, surrounded by a tightly packed audience. Two mutants were in the ring, fighting as a lithe, mutant woman slipped through the crowd collecting bets and handing out tickets. And when I say slipped, I mean her body literally turned into a watery, gel substance, allowing her squeeze herself between the compact bodies. The two mutants brawling had boring abilities and were obviously both rookies; I didn't dwell on their fight.

The first people to walk up to me as I skirted the edges of the crowd were a woman and man in their early 20's.

"Loosen up, you look too sober!" the woman proclaimed, as she plucked a cup from a passing stranger with her glitter, bronze painted fingernails and deposited it in my gloved hand.

"I, uh, just got here," I replied defensively, never really one for social situations with strangers. I was too wary and spent most of my time examining someone for concealed weapons, rather than actually having a conversation with them.

"'Ey, now! Hackles down, tiger. Ain't nobody here to pick a fight with ya unless ya in the ring. Guessing, ya new on the scene?" the man inquired, speaking in an odd accent that sounds like a mix between Mississippi and new jersey, but all of his 'h's were silent. He was boisterous and very tall, with a piercing in his eyebrow.

"Not my first rodeo. But my old scene was a bit…different," I replied, which was true. The underground fights that I frequented were for pure vicious, alpha status intents; to prove who was the strongest. Here, people mingled and wandered around, occasionally paying mind to the two combatants in the ring. The fights were for pure entertainment, as if they were nothing more than a boxing match on a t.v. at a bar. The relaxed air was definitely different than what I was used to.

"The name's, Juke. And this here is Miss Tattoo," Juke said as he stuck out his hand for me to shake. Not wanting to uncover more of my recognizable, scaly arm than needed, I ignored the offered gesture. Juke just shrugged his shoulders and scratched the light scruff at his neck awkwardly. Tattoo elbowed him to the side as he opened his mouth to speak again.

"Just call me Tattoo, none of that Miss crap. So, where you from, kid?" Tattoo wore flat, brown leather boots, plain, sensible clothing, and enough jewelry to rival a queen. Multiple types of rings adorned every one of her fingers, thin gold, bronze, and silver chains hugged close to her neck, and her ears had a shining jewel in what seemed like every crevasse, but her arms were surprisingly bare. Her face was also unexpectedly bare of make-up or piercings.

"Most recently, Boston," I answered, taking a big chug out of the sweating cup. The concoction, whatever it was, did not go down easily. I grimaced and rubbed my throat which felt like it had fire ants crawling down it. The feeling settled in my stomach like warm embers. It was similar to the seconds before I blew fire, I enjoyed the feeling.

"I got a cousin there, maybe ya know her?" Juke piped in before being quickly shot down.

"Doubt it," I answered, absently scanning the room for Pyro. I spotted him on the other side of the ring, examining the fight. His eyes locked with mine for a moment before I quickly looked away.

"Follow us, newbie. There's someone you need to meet," Tattoo led the way around the crowd as I sipped at my ever refilling cup, thanks to the generous patrons around me.

"'Ey, Brook! Com'ere a tick!" Juke yelled over the crowd, standing on his tiptoes. The female bookmaker squeezed through an invisible space on the outskirts of the crowd. She firmly closed the flap on her satchel as Juke pranced over to her.

"Heya, Jukey-boy. What's up?" Brook was a lot smaller and younger than I originally thought, probably only sixteen years old or so.

"Got some fresh meat for you," Juke announced, presenting me like a prize on a game show, hand flourish and everything.

"Excellent! The fights have been painfully boring tonight. Fresh meat got a name?" Brook questioned in her lofty voice. Her eyes were an eerie, mutant teal color that seemed to stare right through my shoddy, cloak disguise.

"Ya know what? We never got it. Whacha name, missy?" I froze for a second, my eyes glancing around the space trying to think of a response. My eyes caught the colorful, strobe lights.

"Amber," I answered quickly, covering my bluff with another large chug of burning liquid.

"Well, Amber, we got a rule here. Newbies have to fight their first night, no exception," Tattoo stated, grabbing my elbow through my cloak. Surprised, I lightly hissed at her, trying to tug my exposed arm away. She paid no mind to my struggles and didn't even spare a glance at my scaled arm as she dragged me through the dense crowd.

"New punching bag coming through!" Juke screamed repeatedly, effectively making a path to the fighting area. And the only thing I could think was: _Pyro is gonna kill me._


	10. Seared Skin

**Spitfire.**

**Chapter 10**

I stumbled a few steps into the ring, immediately whipping around and hissing at Tattoo. She giggled behind her jeweled fingers and waved. The lights flashed off her rings, making me raise a hand to shield my eyes. The music and lights seemed more intense in the abandoned circle and my head began to pound.

I felt the foot in my kidney before I even heard someone enter the ring with me. My body curved to the right to lessen the damage and I quickly spun around again.

_I'm like a god damned ballerina. _

My cloak fluttered around me, scraping the floor as I turned. My eyes flicked in every direction, trying to spot my opponent. My frustration peeked when I found no one. The crowd was laughing at me, slapping each other's shoulders, and holding their alcohol filled guts. My own gut boiled as I took in a deep breath, ready to torch the entire crowd in my humiliation. Smoke curled from between my lips, but my oxygen was suddenly cut off as my cloak clenched around my neck. I was jerked backwards, stumbling again. I felt my wings flare a few inches as I instinctually tried to gain balance.

I looked down at my cloak, finding it pinned to the ground by an unseen force. My eyes narrowed in confusion as I quickly tried to loosen it with my foot; the invisible weight didn't move. I leaned down, prepared to rip off the corner which seemed to be fastened to the ground. Afterwards, I'll admit, this was probably a stupid move.

I heard a rush of air and tried to avoid it, but the cloak tightened around my throat again. Another foot connected with my chest and the cloak ripped away from me. With the pressure released, a large jet of fire escaped from my throat. The crowed jostled and whispered but I was preoccupied.

_ Okay. Now Pyro is really gonna kill me._

I was rubbing my sore, chaffed throat when I heard a small scream and saw a puff of my fire floating in the air. A woman flickered in and out of existence, the fire engulfing her tank top. I would have smacked myself in the forehead if I had time.

_Invisibility. _

I moved quickly, taking my opening as she flailed desperately at her flaming top. My foot connected brutally with her stomach, my claws scrapping her stomach and cutting of the burning, tattered bottom of her shirt. She flew back, skidding to a stop at the shins of the crowd. Her hands clutched her stomach as she winced. The crowd quickly engulfed her, leaving me standing awkwardly in the ring. I quickly removed the gloves from my hands, stretching my wings and fingers simultaneously. I glared at the crowd, daring someone to make a move or say something against me. A man stepped from the masses, a dark hoodie covering his face.

_And here comes Pyro to finish me off. _

But as soon as I saw the flashing, yellow eyes and the matching pointed teeth, I tensed. A sharp, pointed tongue ran against his top teeth and green fire encased his fingers. The crowd shifted nervously and became silent. Round two had begun, but this was very different than the first. My eyes locked on my opponent as he shifted on his feet. His movements were jerky and his fingers twitched every few seconds. The people closest took a few steps back and held their breaths.

"_Why is he here? Who let him in? I thought he finally left town," _Hushed voices emitted from every direction, making me tense. I briefly saw Tattoo and Juke in the crowd, Tattoo holding a knuckle in between her teeth and Juke's heel tapping on the floor. Both their eyes stared anxiously at the man across from me.

"Come on pretty snakey. Make the first move," He barely spoke in a whisper, but his taunting command oozed and wriggled in my ears. I flinched, flexed my fingers, and bared my teeth. Poison gathered in the roof of my mouth and embers glowed in my belly. I didn't bother trying to fake him out, I barreled straight towards him. A high pitched laugh released from his mouth, reminding me of tires squealing as a car's breaks slammed. By the time we were close enough to touch noses, he still hadn't moved or blinked. He never blinked, I noticed.

I twirled around, trying to get behind him. My claws scraping on the floor as I lifted my leg to land a foot at the base of his spine. His arm shot out behind him, twisting at an angle only a contortionist could manage and grabbed my ankle. His neck twisted to look at me, resembling a demonic owl. A manic smile stretched across his face as his tongue licked his chapped lips. The green flames scorched the skin around my scales and the pointed ends of the flames were solid, cutting into my leg like daggers. I winced and tried to pull my ankle out of his grasp, but his hold was like steel.

I planted a hand on the ground and twisted my body to aim my other leg at his neck. My eyes widened as his other hand grabbed my leg. The burning, stabbing sensation came again and I started to panic. He laughed at my shocked face between his crossed arms. The noise scraped against my eardrums as I wiggled to get away. My tail smacked at his wrists as I tried to jerk my legs free, but my efforts were wasted. I felt his grip tighten momentarily before he lobbed me over his head. I landed on my shoulder a few feet away, groaning in pain.

When I had regained my breath and look up at the crowd in front of me, who was it that was glaring down at me? Pyro, of course. He was flicking his lighter incessantly and he looked absolutely furious. His eyes flared at me under his hood, screaming one silent command.

_Get up. _

I huffed and staggered to my feet, wings flared out behind me for balance. My ankles and shoulder throbbed and I could feel tender bruises growing in several spots. I growled when I realized that my opponent hadn't moved an inch from where he began. Poison began to seep on my tongue and I quickly spit a wad of it at his feet. He calmly lifted his foot to avoid the steaming venom and set his left ankle above his right knee. He stood upright and looked like he could fall at any second, but he never wavered or seemed unbalanced.

Finally fed up with his obvious game, I sucked in a large gulp of air. I charged him again, releasing the fire as I went. He twisted out of the way of the reaching flames, like a deranged ballerina. I roared, following after him and shooting out white, blue fire. The crowded ducked away from the raging flames before a purple force field was thrown up around the arena. I stopped momentarily, automatically feeling claustrophobic. My feelings didn't last long because my opponent suddenly appeared in front of me. His yellow eyes twinkled and his rancid breath blew in my face. His pain inducing fingers wrapped around my neck and squeezed.

My eyes flashed and suddenly my brain clicked, I was done being his play toy. My wings flared behind me and my tail came from behind me to wrap around his ankle as tightly as I could. I saw confusion flash in his expression as he looked down. A smirk grew on my face as I stroked the roof of my mouth, generating a large wad of venom. My wings tightened around us, wrapping around his back as if we were hugging. I held onto his wrists, my claws digging into his skin. His eyes widened and I could see the panic clouding the corners of his eyes. He wriggled and quickly glanced at each imprisoned body part to find a weak point. When he looked down at his ankle, I swiftly took the opening.

My canines punctured his arm, right below where I had a hold of his wrist. My venom entered his blood system and his body seized up. The green flames extinguished from his hands and his body slackened. I removed his hands from my neck, my skin sizzling and bleeding. I unwrapped myself from around him and pushed him over lightly. His body made as loud thud as it connect with the concrete, completely rigid. His hood fell and a shaved head with two small, green horns appeared with swirling tattoos surrounding them.

Whispers broke out and the sea of body began to move again. The music seemed to regain volume and my body finally relaxed. From the corner of my eye, I watched someone push themselves out of the crowd. I tensed before realized it was Tattoo who was shouting at people to move out of her way. She came up to me, Juke following closely behind.

"You alright there, kid?" Tattoo questioned, wincing as she examined my neck wound.

"Is there a round 3?" I asked, placing gentle fingers at the still lightly, sizzling skin. I followed the wound in the shapes of fingers and tried to assess the damage.

"T'ere wasn't even suppose ta be a round 2," Juke answered, look behind me at the still body on the ground, "'e dead?"

"Paralyzed. It'll wear off in a few hours," I replied stepping gingerly on my injured ankles and wanting ever so badly to get out of the arena.

Tattoo parted the crowd as we made our way to the makeshift bar. I plopped down into a stool and cross my ankle over my knee to examine it. I placed a small wad of venom in my hand and slathered it on the wound, a cool numbing sensation spreading over the area.

"What are you doing?" Tattoo asked, her eyes showing concern.

"My venom can paralyze others if inserted into the blood stream, but for me it works as a numbing and pain reliever agent. It doesn't help me heal, but it'll do until I get home," I said as I carefully applied venom to my other ankle and neck.

"We got healers here," Juke offered.

"I've got a healers and supplies at home. All I want right now is a strong drink and whatever money I made on those fights," I demanded. I turned my chair around and leaned my elbows on the counter. My wings pressed into the counter awkwardly but I ignored it. I watched as a few grunts drug my opponent from the circle and carried him up the stairs. Soon after, another fight started going, as if nothing had happened.

Tattoo appeared with three drinks in her fingers, before I even realized she disappeared.

"Drink up, kid. You sure as hell earned it," Tattoo declared as we clinked our plastic cups together. I grinned and took a large swig. I coughed as the intense burn seared my throat like the demon mutants hands. Tattoo and Juke didn't try to hide their laughing as they chugged down their drinks. I glared as I covered my mouth and sputtered.


End file.
